But like many of his kind, Talansky is prone to fight, and bite, when there is no reason to.

The Stage 7 finish in Nancy, where, in the run to the line, the Garmin-Sharp rider initially felt Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEDGE had taken him down on purpose, was one such example.

"(Gerrans) took me out, he can't do that. Do you think that's acceptable? I moved out of the way to let the sprinters do their sprint, and he took me out," an agitated Talansky shouted to Matt Rabin, the team's chiropractor, as the battered and bruised pit bull made his way to their team kennel after the stage finish.

Responded Gerrans: "I saw the footage afterwards... From what I saw, he looked over his right shoulder as I was coming from the left, and unfortunately just fell over my back wheel."

That's exactly how it was...

250 metres from the line. Talanksy, a general classification rider, didn't need to be so far in front. He probably knew it, too, because as he said so himself, "I was pulling out the way". A Tour stage win was up for grabs. And Gerrans was going for it.

200 metres from the line.

Exposed and way out left, the Australian needed to find someone to latch onto, fast. He eyed the wheel of maillot vert Peter Sagan, and made a beeline for it.

150 metres from the line. Talansky, in watching what was going on in front and to the right of him, and unlike Gerrans, unfamiliar with bunch sprinting, did not see the Australian champion coming.

100 metres from the line. As Gerrans dove across to Sagan's wheel, he was still out of sight in Talansky's peripheral vision.

Out of sight but not out of mind, because the next thing he knew, he was somersaulting across the tarmac and lying on the ground, body battered, shorts ripped, and sitting in the opposite direction to which he was going.

"I want Gerrans to come and apologise," Talanksy was heard saying. "I mean, (sprinting) for eighth place? What a joke that guy is..."

Prodded Cycling Central's Al Hinds: 'Talanksy's asking for an apology - what do you make of that?'

"Oh, well, I'm sorry that he crashed," Gerrans began by saying, "but as I think everyone saw, there was no malice about it... and I don't think I did anything wrong. And I think if he sees what happens too, he'd see that I moved from the left to the right, and he was moving from the right to the left... and he just fell over my back wheel."

While Talansky, at the behest of team management, did not come out of the bus to speak to the awaiting media, for he is known for mouthing off things he later regrets, an hour or so after the stage finish, he appeared to have come to the same view...

Just a few scrapes from that little incident thankfully. To quote Forest Gump, "shit happens".